Thousands of ICE agents join the forum to complain about their jobs, the report says

Thousands of federal immigration agents are complaining about their jobs in an online forum, where they have criticized “incompetent leadership.”

Agents from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection agencies, part of the Department of Homeland Security, are venting their frustrations online as they are placed at the center of the Trump administration’s crackdown.

The unnamed forum has more than 5,000 users Wire Claiming to be current and former federal immigration agents. There, they complained about the agency’s negative public perception, long work hours and “incompetent” leadership, according to the outlet.

The outlet noted that users on the forum are not required to prove their employment to join and that it has not confirmed the identities of the people posting.

Users were candid about public perceptions of the agencies amid the Trump administration’s immigration surge in cities across the US.

“I’m all for getting rid of illegals, but taking dudes off lawn mowers in Cali and leaving trucks and equipment sitting there? Definitely not a smart thing to do,” one user said in one of the viewed posts. Wire.

Posts on the forum have reportedly increased following public scrutiny and outrage from agencies in Minnesota, where U.S. citizens Renee Goode and Alex Pretty were killed by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis last month.

One user started a thread titled “Ready to resign, had enough stress” five days before Pretty was killed. “I have 2.3 years left for full special category retirement… but don’t know if I can do it. Tired of this agency. Employees are being mistreated,” the user reportedly wrote.

Users also complained that agents were deployed for temporary duty at short notice in cities where the administration handles large-scale immigration.

“No weekends off, more work than ever in 18 years. No more unions. No down time,” the post reportedly continued. “It’s not what any of us imagine in the last years of our careers when we’re in our 50s.”

Other users criticized the Homeland Security leadership.

“Leaded by the worst leadership I’ve ever seen from the local level to the national level, this agency has succeeded in turning a religious mission into a complete clown show,” another user reportedly wrote.

“It’s going to be a train wreck that we can’t survive,” said another.

independent The Department of Homeland Security has been contacted for comment.

Reports of “decreasing” morale among federal law enforcement officials responsible for conducting the administration’s immigration operations have been widespread since the Minneapolis unrest. More than 20 current and former immigration officials said in a report in late January The New York Times Their displeasure in the hours after Pretty’s fatal shooting.

Current and former ICE officials who spoke to the outlet anonymously said they were “displeased with the sharp rhetoric” coming from the White House and Homeland Security officials, who were quick to blame Pretty.

An ICE agent said the time He “always gave the government the benefit of the doubt in these circumstances” but now he doesn’t believe “any statement they’ve issued”.

“We’ve lost all faith,” added one current ICE official. “I’m not sure I can see how we’ll exist three years from now.”

Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin also reported “extreme disappointment” at the department over “some of the claims and stories that have been pushed by DHS since the shooting.”

“These sources say that this message from DHS officials has been disastrous from a PR and morale standpoint, as it erodes trust and credibility,” Melugin reported Sunday.

In response, Tricia McLaughlin, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary, ICE and Border Patrol agents “wake up every morning to try to make our communities safer.”

“The men and women of ICE and the Border Patrol are father and mother, son and daughter,” McLaughlin said in an earlier statement. independent. “Just like everyone else, our officers want to go home to their families at night. The violence and dehumanization of these men and women in law enforcement must stop.”